


i'm a wreck (when i'm without you)

by little_brown_songbird



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Genre: Bisexual Buffy Summers, Eventual Smut, F/F, Faith shows up in season 4 instead of season 3, Girls Kissing, How Do I Tag, Mutual Pining, Season/Series 04, Sexual Tension, as Buffy's new roommate, starts directly after s04e02 "Living Conditions"
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-18 14:42:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28744917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/little_brown_songbird/pseuds/little_brown_songbird
Summary: “I’m Faith,” the girl says. Her eyes slide down Buffy’s body, almost appreciatively, and Buffy’s blush only intensifies. “And you must be Buffy.”Or: an AU where Faith doesn't come to Sunnydale until Season 4. Most of what happened in season 3 still occurred, like the Mayor's Ascension attempt, just without Faith there. Since Buffy's old roommate Kathy was revealed to be a demon, she and Faith become roommates.
Relationships: Faith Lehane/Buffy Summers
Comments: 13
Kudos: 41





	i'm a wreck (when i'm without you)

The damn key isn’t working. Again. Buffy growls in frustration, shifting her books to one arm while she struggles to unlock the door with the other. Of course her bag had to rip and leave her to carry half a dozen books across campus. Now she’s late for Psych 101, which means Professor Walsh ripping her a new one in front of the whole class. Today is just not her day. 

Giving up, she knocks impatiently on the door. “Willow? Are you in there?”

She hears footsteps, coming slowly closer, and sighs in relief as the door swings open. “Thank God you’re here—”

The words die on her tongue, because the girl in the doorway is definitely not Willow. 

She’s taller than Buffy, with shoulder-length dark hair and wide, expressive brown eyes smudged with eyeliner, red lipstick painted on her lips. There’s something hard in the set of her jaw and shoulders, in the challenging gaze she levels at Buffy, in the way she wears her leather jacket and black jeans like they’re armor. 

Yep. Definitely not Willow. 

Buffy just stares at her for a minute, unable to muster any conscious thought beyond 'random girl in my room' and 'random pretty girl in my room' and 'why am I noticing that she’s pretty' and 'who the hell is she.' Thankfully, the last thought is the one she blurts out: “Who the hell are you?”

The girl raises an eyebrow at her tone, and Buffy can feel herself blushing. “Sorry — I just —”

“I’m Faith,” the girl says. Her eyes slide down Buffy’s body, almost appreciatively, and Buffy’s blush only intensifies. “And you must be Buffy.” 

Buffy nods, mentally beating herself up, furious that a single look is all it takes to fluster her. “That’s me. Buffy. Buff. The Buffster.” God, could she be any more embarrassing?

Then it registers that she still doesn’t know why this girl is in her room. “Um, how do you know my name? And why are you in my room?”

Faith leans against the doorframe and grins, a disarming, playful grin that renders Buffy speechless again. “Our room, B. I’m your new roommate.”

“No,” Buffy manages to get out, trying to ignore the effect the nickname has on her. “I’m rooming with Willow Rosenberg now. She’s supposed to be here.”

Faith shrugs. “I was assigned to this room.”

Suddenly irritated by Faith’s nonchalance, by that infuriatingly amused glint in her eyes, Buffy pushes into the room and dumps her books on her bed. She casts a perfunctory glance around the room, taking in the stack of Faith’s books on the other bed, the abundance of leather and denim that has invaded the closet. Clenching her jaw, she grabs her Psych 101 textbook from her dresser and marches back out the door. “Just don’t touch my stuff.” 

“What do you mean I have to stay with Faith?”

Dean Guerrero fixes her with such a Giles-esque look that Buffy can’t help but shrink back. “I mean exactly what I said, Miss Summers.”

“But why?” Buffy says plaintively. 

“College is about broadening your horizons. I’m sure that Miss Rosenberg is an exceptional person, but we want you to meet new people and have new experiences here at UC Sunnydale. Having a stranger as a roommate is the perfect opportunity for you to do that.” 

“But —”

“That is final, Miss Summers,” the dean tells her, with a smile that doesn’t reach his eyes. “I suggest that you try getting to know your new roommate. You might even like her.” He looks back down at the papers in front of him, a clear dismissal. 

Silently fuming, Buffy gets up and storms out of the office. Broaden your horizons, she thinks derisively as she stomps across campus. I can broaden my horizons just fine with Willow as my roommate! 

With her luck, Faith is probably a demon of some kind, just like Kathy. And even if she isn’t, there’s no way Buffy will be able to hide her Slayer life from her roommate.

That’s the only reason she doesn’t want Faith to be her roommate. It has absolutely nothing to do with the flutter Buffy had felt in her stomach when Faith smiled at her. 

Nothing at all.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos make my day!


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